NATAS Awards announced at CES

Emmys given for TV, games, 'advanced media'

The Gotham-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented its 59th annual Technology and Engineering Awards at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas on Monday night. The ceremony was held for the second consecutive year at the Consumer Electronics Show.

NATAS topper Peter Price addressed an audience of 500, up nearly 20% from last year. Due to ongoing litigation with the Hollywood-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, some winners walked away without an Emmy statuette — a first for NATAS.

“We are in court aggressively fighting for the right to recognize the talents and achievements of these companies and individuals without whom our industry would not be the world leader it is today,” Price said. He hopes to be able to present each winner from Monday’s event with the Emmy soon.

Fourteen “classic” Emmys in six categories recognizing achievements in broadcast and personal television were presented. In addition, seven categories of awards were doled out in advanced media and technology and as well as six categories of videogame awards.

Pioneering development of a fully monitored fiber optic based digital network for occasional use and full time video services with fully provisioned local video access at shared use sports venues:Vyvx Services

Development and implementation of an integrated and portable IP-based live, edit and store-and-forward newsgathering system:CNN

Development of massively multiplayer online graphical role playing games (three winners):Neverwinter Nights, AOL-Time Warner/Stormfront/Ubisoft/TSR-Wizards of the CoastEverquest, Sony Online EntertainmentWorld of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment